The Bike-sharing World -Second Week of February 2015

North America:
Mexico:
   
   Mexico City:

The largest bike-sharing program in the Americas

For its 5th year anniversary on February 16, Ecobici in Mexico City enters its forth phase expansion with the opening of 171 new stations with an additional 2,300 bikes in the Bonito Juárez section of the City. This makes Ecobici the largest bike-share program in the Americas. Claiming 6,500 bikes in 444 stations this week, Mexico City topples the bike-share North American leaders of New York City, Montréal, and D.C.

Happy Anniversary Ecobici!

images: Ecobici: Mancera

Russell Meddin           bikesharephiladelphia.org

Keep in touch with The Bike-sharing World with The Bike-sharing World Map. It is the premiere resource for information on cities with bike-sharing programs and the complement to The Bike-sharing Blog. Use this easy web address for viewing the map:  

www.bikesharingworld.com.

Follow the Map on Twitter@BikesharingMap

The Bike-sharing World - Third Week of November 2014

NORTH AMERICA:
Mexico:

                 Mexico City

Sad news from Ecobici in Mexico City. Last Friday, a 37 year old man riding Ecobici was fatally struck by a mini-bus on a transit way, according to SPDnoticas. After over 19,700,000 usages in over 4 years that Ecobici has operated in the Federal District, this is the first fatality for bike-sharing in Mexico. 

This terrible event makes an earlier announcement from Ecobici bittersweet. This month Ecobici began its grand expansion into the Benito Juarez section of the city. Work has already begun to bring 2,500 more bikes in 171 new stations to the system, as was reported by Almonent Noticas. 


                        Guadalajara

Mexico will soon have another fairly large bike-share system in Guadalajara. Mibici is scheduled to begin operation within the next week or two. It will have close to 1,000 bikes in almost 90 stations. Stay tuned to  @BikesharingMap for the notice of Mibici's launch.

USA:
            Tampa

Tampa Mayor Buckhorn and Eric Tull of Coast Bike Share coast through the ribbon cutting

This week Tampa, Florida finally coasted into opening a bike-share system, but for members only, Coast Bike Share will open to all on December 7, 2014. With 45 bikes in "hubs" rather than stations, members can try out the bikes. Coast Bike Share is to have 300 bikes in 27 "hubs" to pedal and coast on the streets of Tampa.

Phoenix, Arizona's delayed Grid Bike Share program is reported to be ready to begin operation next week on November 25th.

Europe:
Scotland, United Kingdom:

                  Edinburgh  

The JCDecaux Coca Cola Zero system in Dublin, Ireland

This week JCDecaux, one of the world's largest outdoor advertising companies, as well as one of the largest bike-share systems providers, signed a 10-year agreement with the City of Edinburgh, Scotland. JCDecaux reports a provision of the contract is to "consult with the city for the provision of... a city-wide bicycle-hire scheme."

images Mexico City: Armando Monroy / Cuartoscuro, Guadalajara: DK120, Tampa: Tampabay.com Dublin: Dublinbikes

Russell Meddin            bikesharephiladelphia.org

Keep in touch with The Bike-sharing World with The Bike-sharing World Map. It is the premiere resource for information on cities with bike-sharing programs and the complement to The Bike-sharing Blog. The easy web address for viewing the map is www.bikesharingworld.com.

Follow the Map on Twitter@BikesharingMap

The Bike-sharing World - The last week of October 2013

SOUTH AMERICA:

Chile:

Santiago

Slick advisement for Bikesantiago, where the tire isn't a slick

Last Friday Santiago, Chile launched its 2nd bike-sharing program with Bikesantiago. The program with 300 bikes in 25 stations, around the Vitacura section of the city, uses B-cycle equipment. The program is sponsored by one of South America's largest Banks, Itaú. This bank also sponsors many bike-share programs in Brazil and a seasonal one in Uruguay. Bikesantiago currently only offers monthly memberships at 4,999 pesos ($9.85 US), half year memberships at 24,950 pesos ($49.20 US) and yearly memberships at 49,999 ($98.50 US). As with most bike-share programs there is a 30 minute initial period at no extra charge, then 500 peso (about $1.00 US) for the next 30 minutes and 1000 pesos for the next 30 minutes. Santiago hopes to eventually have 3,000 bikes in 300 stations. This is the first deployment of a large North American system in South America and the first B-cycle system outside the USA.

NORTH AMERICA:

Mexico:

Mexico City

Also last week Ecobici bike-share announced not only was it expanding its service area south into the Benito Juárez section of the City, but there is Bigger News! It has become the first North American bike-share program to be part of a city's multi-modal transit card for the bus, the metro, the trolleybus and parking meters according to Croninca.com. Current Ecobici card holders just need add the service to their plastic RFID card. New customers can add the Ecobici subscription to a new multi-modal card. Mexico City has caught the wave of the "single media fare card" future!

USA:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Yes, now that the issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a bike-share program is so frequent, it no longer qualifies as news. But even before this blog reported on January 21, 2008 that the Bike Share Philadelphia Forum an Astounding Success, this blogger has been working non stop to make bike-share happen in the city of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Bike Share RFP is just the beginning of a journey started almost seven years ago!

Fullerton, California:

BikeLink is about to begin a bike-share program in Fullerton, California. This is part of a pilot for the Orange County Transportation Authority for 165 bikes in 15 stations. It is a really good re-use of some of the Anaheim, California pilot program from Bike Nation. According to information from Bike Nation, it plans on co-investing in the program in Fullerton by adding 350 bikes in 35 stations. It is great to finally see bike-sharing about to start rolling in the Los Angeles basin.

Washington, DC:

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the US Government has made the determination that the cost of bike-sharing memberships does not qualify for the Transportation (Commuting) Benefits Program under Fringe Benefit Rules for transit, according to Forbes.com. Even though the rules allow a $20 a month reimbursement for bicycle commuting to work, from an employer, the IRS determined that bike-sharing was not mass transit or a transit pass, nor was it a purchase or maintenance cost to get to work. So no reduced rate ride! There is never a free ride!

EUROPE:

United Kingdom:

London:

Since Transport for London (TfL) Barclays Cycle Hire  sparked a new way to get around London almost three and a half years ago, there is now shocking news that there will be electric cycle hire bikes! As part of London Mayor Boris Johnson's next bicycle plan, according to the Evening Standard, the hillier parts of the City will get several hundred electric or electric assist bike-share bikes. They are not to be part of the current system, but a complement in places where a regular Barclays Cycle Hire could not be running up the hill!

THE WORLD:

The Bike-sharing World Map is the premiere resource for information on cities with bike-sharing. Here is the new easy web address for viewing the map: www.bikesharingworld.com

Follow the Map on Twitter@BikesharingMap

See the O'Brien Global Bike Share Map which shows real time bike usage in over 100 cities!

images: Movit, BikeLink, IRS, Lewis Whyld/PA-the Gaurdian London

Russell Meddin              bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike-sharing World - Third Week of September 2013

EUROPE:
Italy:

Bike-sharing on Both Sides of the Law

Arezzo:
  

Police Officer - Arezzo, Itally

In celebrating European Mobility Week, the citizens of Arezzo, Italy have been asked to forgo their cars and to get around town by bicycle, or by foot. In keeping with this goal, the local bike-sharing program, ARbike, is giving the police access to their bike-share bicycles. The Police will use these bicycles to patrol the city and keep the police cars and motorcycles in the city garage according to the news source: ArezzoNotizie.

Over in Milan, Italy, MilanoToday is reporting that a stolen bikeMI bike-share was used in an illicit drug transaction. The Police arrested both the buyer and the seller. The recovered drug bike was dragged back to the station! 

Milan:

Secretive bikeMi Pedaled in darkness

This shows that Bike-sharing is so popular that everyone is using it, no matter on what side of the law, one rides!

NORTH AMERICA:

USA:

San Francisco:

This Summit, in San Francisco, California on October 10th and 11th, 2013, is one of the first conferences in the United States covering bike-sharing which is open to the public. It is not just for government or transportation officials, but for everyone interested in the bike-sharing phenomenon. The Shared Use Mobility Summit will have speakers who were instrumental in making Bike-sharing happen in North America and Europe. There will be panel discussions on how to make Bike-sharing work well. There is also the possibility that new bike-share systems will be on display at the Summit!

There is still time for discounted registrations through September 16, 2013: Register Now

The web address for the Summit: sharedusesummit.org. If you or your city are planning a Bike-sharing program, this Summit should not be missed! Oh yes, there will be segments on car-sharing too!

Mexico:

Mexico City:

Ecobici Ride - Mexico City

Impressive usage numbers were reported this summer for Mexico City's Ecobici. With over 3250 bicycles in active use throughout 268 stations, by the end of July, over 9 million trips were taken since the program started. The number of subscribers has exceeded 95,000. On August 28, 2013 over 28,800 trips were taken in one day. Earlier this year, the system was finally opened for daily use by non-residents according to El Sol de Mexico and El Universl. 

Just as impressive, are the results of studies by MercadoLibre, the online retailer, and The Del La Riva Group - Mexico. These studies, as reported in tera-economia, attribute the success of Ecobici as one of the factors in the 50% increase of online bicycle purchases in Mexico. This is another instance that shows bike-sharing helps stimulate bicycle business in North America.

THE WORLD:

Who will be the 4,000,000th person to view The Bike-sharing World Map? In less than four years four million people from all over the world have come to recognize The Bike-sharing World Map as the premiere resource for information on cities with bike-sharing. Are you the 4 millionth viewer? Here is the new easy web address for viewing the map: www.bikesharingworld.com

(Update: The four millionth viewer studied the map on September 16, 2013)

Follow the Map on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/BikesharingMap

See the O'Brien Global Bike Share Map which shows real time bike usage in over 100 cities!

images: Arrezo Notizie, BikeMi Calendar, mas por mas/DF,

Russell Meddin              bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike-sharing World - Mid-September 2012

EUROPE

United Kingdom:
London:

Barclays Cycle Hire is planning to increase its size by 25% with an expansion into west London next year. Speaking to the press, Mayor Boris Johnson said, "Every Londoner should be able to take advantage of our hugely popular and iconic Barclays Cycle Hire scheme which has already brought untold benefits to London's commuters, businesses, and visitors alike." The plan will bring 2,400 more bikes in 200 new stations to boroughs of Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth and Kensington, and Chelsea according to Transport for London.

France:
Strasbourg:

A colloquium, "Bike-sharing: Where are we now?" was held in Strasbourg this week. Representatives from all over France as well as parts of Germany and Switzerland participated. One of the interesting concepts that was discussed is the idea that bike-sharing is a new form of communication. The economist Frédéric Héran, who teaches at the University of Lille, posits that bike-sharing is a way our cities "communicate" about themselves showing that they are vibrant and "trendy." There were also discussions on the change bike-sharing has brought to adhering cities. Most of which were very positive. There were also lively discussions on the relative cost of programs to cities.

Paris:

A Paris police spokesman said that "a large number of investigators" were working to solve a reported form of "class warfare" vandalism to Paris' wildly successful bike-share system. After 50 Vélib' tires were slashed, according to the report, a group claimed that it planned to vandalize the bikes in all areas of the city that were not in working class districts. The police do not view these claims to be inflated and are working tirelessly to stop any more incidents. 


NORTH AMERICA:
Mexico:
Mexico City:

Seventy-two more Ecobici stations are up and running in Mexico City this week as the system opens the start of its Phase II expansion. By the end of the year there will 275 Ecobici stations with 4,000 bicicletas rolling around more areas of the City. On Wednesday, the Head of Government for the Federal District of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, cut the ribbon to open this huge expansion of the Ecobici system according to a city press release. With that one snip of the scissors, Ecobici more than doubled its size. It is hopeful that the ridership will almost triple to 73,000 trips a day with this expansion. The system is open only to residents of Mexico City and had been limited no more than 30,000 subscribers. Phase II is expected to allow up to 100,000 subscribers according to Iván De la Lanza of the Ministry of Environment of Mexico City.

USA:
Madison, Wisconsin; Denver, Colorado and Boulder, Colorado:

The B-connected Reciprocity Initiative now includes three B-cycle Cities. Annual subscribers to the Madison, Wisconsin, Boulder, Colorado and Denver, Colorado can use their membership card to take bikes in each other cities. The overage time charges, if any, are at the renting location rates. According to the press release, B-cycle hopes to extend this B-connected Reciprocity Initiative to more of the B-cycle systems in the USA.

Long Beach, California:

Bike Nation the dominate bike-sharing force in the Los Angels Basin has debuted its second generation bike-share bike even before its first generation has hit the streets. In a press release this week Bike Nation shows its new "Made in USA" bike. It expects to create more than 150 new jobs making these bikes to fulfills its plans for the 2,500 bikes in 250 stations for Long Beach, California and the 4,000 bikes in 400 stations for Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, Westwood and around Venice Beach, California.  Bike Nation's first deployment of a system which was to begin in Anaheim, California at the end of July, should actually begin operation this month but using the older Bike Nation bike. In Anaheim, there will be 100 bikes in 10 stations to begin, with a goal to increase the size of the system as demand warrants. 

Washington, DC:

For all of you who just can't get enough bike-sharing information, the Pedestrian and Bicycle  Information Center just released the report: Bike Sharing in The United States: State of the Practice and Guide to Implementation. This 68-page report is a good read. The report is available here in PDF form.

ASIA:
Israel:
Tel Aviv:

Reports out of Tel Aviv are that it will not be fun to use Tel-O-Fun on Wednesday, September 26th. Although there is now a compromise, according to The Jerusalem Post, the Israeli Minister of Transportation threatened to stop all funding to Tel-O-Fun if it did not close down for the religious holiday of Yom Kippur -- an important Jewish holiday, on that date. The Jewish religion forbids work on Yom Kippur. The compromise is that on Yom Kippur only annual subscribers will be allowed to use the system; casual members will not.


The World:

The Bike-sharing World Map is the #1 resource for bike-sharing systems. It shows new systems which come online which might not be covered in The Bike-sharing Blog. Keep up with the changing bike-sharing world by frequent visits to The Bike-sharing World Map.

images: TfL,Strasbourg, Mexico, B-cycle, BikeNation, Tel-O-Fun

Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike-sharing World - December 2011

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR


Much has happened in the world of bike-sharing recently. Here's a rundown of the news:
ASIA:
        China:

#1 Most Active System

Just west of Shanghai, China is the prosperous city of Kunshan. At the end of August of this year, the city launched its automated bike-sharing program, Kunshan Public Bicycle, with 3,000 bikes in 150 stations. At the beginning of this month, according to Kunshan News the system is reporting phenomenal usage figures. There are 79,000 subscribers, or card holders, with bikes being using on average over 16.6 times a day. The highest one day usage was 60,000 trips. This makes Kunshan Public Bicycle, the most active system in China and the World!

What contributes to the kind of huge usage? There are many factors. Firstly, there is a very low subscription price in the form of a deposit and the simplicity of paying overage charges, after the initial free first hour, are subtracted from the subscribers "added value card".  Secondly, there is incredible ease-of-use of the system. Mobile telephones can be used in place of the subscription cards to swipe at the individual docks to unlock the bikes. There are no numbers to compose or need to have a card at hand.

Then, there is a certain bicycle ethos with the population of Kunshan. It is the city where Shimano, one of the world's largest bicycle component manufactures has its China factory. Also you can be sure, there is no mandatory bicycle helmet law in Kunshan to stand in the way of serendipitous usage!


NORTH AMERICA:
        Canada:

The first two weeks of December finds many of the larger bike-sharing systems in the northern part of North America pulling up stakes and going into hibernation for the winter, however, Toronto bIXI is an exception. Keeping the system open through January, February and March 2012, Canada will remain a bike-sharing nation in the winter. They will show that they can roll with a chill in the air.

        USA:


The state of Florida will start its second major bike-sharing system with Broward B-cycle on December 14. If you are sunning yourself on the beaches of Ft. Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, or Hollywood (the other one), you will have three opportunities to join the opening celebrations, see these times and locations. There will be around 20 stations and 202 bikes in the eastern part of the county to start and more coming in 2012. Also, if you subscribe to the system before the end of this year, you can get $10.00 off the $45 annual subscription price by using this special code (BCYCLE2011).


      Mexico:

Ecobici is a few months shy of its second birthday and is reporting increased usage numbers. According to lainformacion, Ecobici's 30,000 subscribers have taken over 3,000,000 trips as of the beginning of this month, compared to a total of 2 million last year. With daily usage now around 8 trips per bike, it is not the same as Kunshan, but it is very respectable.




EUROPE:
     Germany:
As with most of the Scandinavian bike-sharing systems and some in North America, many of Germany's Call A Bike systems will also go into hibernation for the winter months this week. The larger systems of Hamburg, Berlin, and Stuttgart will remain open, but for those that close, there is the Winterpause Take It Home service. To help its subscribers who want to ride through the cold winter months, for €60 ($80 US) a bike-share bike can be rented and used as a personal bike until the system re-opens in April. I will gladly rent you one of my bikes for this amount during the winter as well!


images: Kunshan Public Bicycle, Sun Sentinel and previous The Bike-sharing Blog postings


Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org

Feliz Cumpleaños ECOBICI & Joyeux Anniversaire VCUB

The end of February brings the first anniversary of two very successful bike-sharing systems. One in Europe and the other in North America. Both have exceeded usage expectations of their respective city governments and are planning to grow.

ECOBICI - Mexico City, Mexico; Born: February 16, 2010

It was an immediate success in the heavily auto congested Colonia Condesa, Juárez, and Cuauhtémoc areas of the Federal District. Within a few months the coverage area was expanded to include parts of the Historical Center of the city. In the first year ECOBICI was used 1.2 million times. There are around 25,000 registered yearly subscribers to the Clear Channel system of 1,200 bikes and 90 stations. These subscribers use the bikes an average of 9,000 times daily with a median trip of around 20 minutes.

According to Milenio.com, at the First Anniversary Celebration, Mayor Ebrard and Clear Channel announced that the service will add 1,700 more bikes and 110 more stations before the end of 2011. It also plans to have a total of 4,000 bikes and 275 stations by the end of 2012.

V³ - Bordeaux, France; Born: February 20, 2010

Like the wines of this region, it was a good year for the experiment to make buses, trams, and bikes seamlessly interconnected in and around Bordeaux. With 1,545 bikes of V^CUB (Vélos for the Community of Urban Bordeaux) being used around 5,000 times a day, over 1.6 million trips have been taken this first year. Another measure of success is that 75% of subscribers have signed up for the full transit option, not just the bikes. Interestingly, in a survey 50% of 13,000 subscribers indicated they owned their own bike. According to SudOuest, during the beginning of the service, bike store operators were not enthusiastic of the program, but now have seen an increase in demand for new bikes since there are more people accustomed to riding in the city. The operating company, Keolis, also operates the region's buses and trams.

images: Blogalaxia & Francesudouest

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

Mexico City Repeals Bike Helmet Law

According to Copenhagenize.com, Mexico City repealed its bike helmet law in February 2010 to make way for Ecobici. Copenhagenize reports, "The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy [ITDP] were instrumental in getting the law repealed but there was also support from within the city government."

With Melbourne's bike-sharing service being the only service in a jurisdiction that requires wearing of a helmet, will Melbourne and Australia follow Mexico City's lead?

image credit: Copenhagenize.com

North America's Newest and Largest Year-round Service Opens in México City

February 16th at 8:00 AM, Mayor Marcelo Ebrard of Mexico City will launch "The System of Individual Transportation," Ecobici, the largest year-round bike-sharing system in North America, with over 1,100 bikes and 82 stations. The Federal District of Mexico City will hold the coveted title of the largest system in the western hemisphere until Montréal wakes up from its winter hibernation in May.

Still 1,100 bikes is nothing to snooze at! The Bike-sharing Blog first reported the announcement of this program on August 6, 2009: Viva Cuidad de México. In six months this Clear Channel-operated system was planned and installed. The system is starting in four districts of the capital with plans to expand to the rest of the city with a total of 6,000 bikes. According to Cuidadanosenred, Jorge Borobia, director of Clear Channel Mexico, said that depending on the operation of this first stage, it will be analyzed, before extending the service to other areas of the city. As with other Clear Channel SmartBike systems, yearly subscription registration for a system RFID card, shown below, must be bought online or at the Ecobici office.

The yearly cost is $300 MXN (about $23 USD). The first 30 minutes of a rental has no charge, the next 30 minutes costs $10 MXN (80¢ US), and after that it costs $35 MXN ($2.70 US) an hour, as reported in merca20. With this pricing, Ecobici hopes to quickly garner 24,000 subscribers. The bikes will be distributed at the “cicloestacionamientos” by small environmentally friendly trucks with trailers.

Watch this introductory video (in Spanish).

Images: skyscrapercity.com

Russell Meddin - www.bikesharephiladelphia.org